Just Below the Surface
by coloredSkies
Summary: Marie has always "just skimmed the surface" of things. Of normalcy, of her past, and of the sea. Just once, she'd like to dip below the surface of something. What she doesn't know is that she is about to- and that she actually has been all her life.
1. Prologue

**Live's FIRST EVER FANFIC is here!** **I'm super nervous that you won't like it… please ****don't go too hard on me! Oh, and also, sorry if that summary made no sense. I couldn't fit what all that I wanted to, so I was forced to leave out some of the details.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ANYTHING in this fanfic except for Nerfani/Marie and her whole backstory/home, etc. (which won't come up until the first chapter, so I didn't really have to say that, but I did anyway :))**

**Comments? Pleeeeease? You get free virtual hugs if ya do!**

**Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoy!**

**Mucho Love-o,**

** Live :D**

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><p><em><strong>~PROLOGUE~<strong>_

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><p><em>A little girl runs down the sandy path to the cove. <em>

_Her bare feet hardly touch the shore as she goes. A wind picks up, whipping her long red hair and sundress around her. There is a sense of forboding, a bit of suspense in the electricity of the oncoming storm. The sea turns gray and the waves pound the shore._

_Lightning flashes, illuminating the sillhouette of the girl climbing onto the rocks. She picks her way across them, sometimes being forced to throw her tiny body over patches of roiling ocean to get to the next. Finally, she reaches the end of her journey- the very last rock in the jetty._

_Anybody watching this scene would have put a stop to it immediatly. Even the girl would not have been doing it, if it weren't for the voice. It called to her, making her blood turn to salt water and her insides to flutter around inside her, It blinded her, direceted her to the sea._

_That's why she was there at that very moment, with the storm roaring around her. _

_The girl stands on the last rock and stares out to sea. There it is agian, that voice. She looks around, suddenly desperate to know who it is. She turns to the ocean. The voice comes from there. The water wants her to join it, to add to its vastness with herself. The call is strong, stronger than she is. It is like a Siren- it is a Siren. It is unbearable._

_Before the little girl gets the chance to hurl herself into the water, a wave washes across her. When the water receeds from the rocks, the tiny girl with the red hair and blue-green eyes that had stood on the rocks moments before has vanished._

_ Beneath the surface, she gives herself up to the sea._

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><p><strong>Well? How was it? Good? Bad? Too dramatic? I was going for drama, but too much drama is never a good thing. Please Please Please Review Review Review! I'm soooo excited to see what you think!<strong>

**THANK YOU!**

**mucho love-o,**

** Live :D**


	2. One: Impossible Possibilities

**HAPPY SUMMER! My school FINALLY let out yesterday... phew! It's been a tough year!**

**Let us celebrate with a shiny, new, much-longer chapter! **

**But first, some virtual hugs to:**

**MaryandMerlin**

**...And that's it. But still, I am so very honored! You totally just made my month! :) (thanks for the advice, by the way.)**

**Read on to see what happened to the poor little girl in the ocean...**

**thanks again!**

**-Live :D**

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><p><em><strong>One<strong>_

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><p>I stare down at the old newspaper clipping in my hand:<p>

**_Young Girl Washed Up on Shore!_**

It shows a picture of me, all tiny and big-eyed and with eighteen stitches in my forehead. I've read that story a billion times, and never once has it given me any clues to who I might actually be- my real family, my real name, my real age. My whole life is entirely made up, thanks to my forgeting everything after hitting my head somewhere in the sea.

I feel the scar in the middle and just above my eyebrows. The doctors offered to perform plastic surgery to get rid of it, but I refused, thinking that if I still had it, I might remember what happened before it appeared.

Mum is at the stairs. "Marie Rose! Get down here and pick up your backpack! I have told you agian and agian not to just toss it..."

She says more, but I have tuned her out. In fact, she lost me at the use of my middle name. That means she's in a bad mood. It is best to not listen when Mum is in a bad mood. I sigh and put the newspaper clipping in the little folder containing all the research I've collected on myself. This includes the article, my adoption papers (which are almost blank), and a few print-outs from the internet. That's it. Not much help, but it's a start, I guess.

"Coming, Mum!" I call before she can yell agian.

When I get downstairs, I find that my backpack is not the only thing that needs picking up. Mum is sitting at the dining room table, every inch of which is covered with piles and piles of papers. "Er, what'cha doing?" I raise an eybrow at the mess.

Mum doesn't answer. Instead, she says, "Do you know where your adoption papers are?"

"Yeah, in my room."

"Go get them."

"Why would you want my-" I start, but Mum stops me with a look. "I'm going, I'm going..." I turn and practicly race up the stairs.

When I open the folder to get my papers, I notice something in one of the pictures that I never did before. My little-girl self is wearing a necklace... which is strange, as I was just fished from the sea moments before. I don't have time to try and figure it out, though, because Mum calls again and I have to hurry downstairs with the papers.

Mum never did tell me why she suddenly wanted my adoption papers. I suppose someone called from Child Services and asked about how things were and how I was doing and all that. Why that would make my papers nessicary, I don't know, but it's all that I can think of.

There is a cool, salty breeze coming from the direction of the sea as I walk down the road to the little town library the next day. I am not just going for books, though. I have a mission: find out more about the necklace I saw in that photo. I know that this is pretty ridiculous, as I can't even find out what my real name is, but something about the necklace bothers me. I at least want to get a closer look at it.

I push open the doors and smile at the librarian, Miss Julia. Returning my smile, she says, "Good morning, Marie. Here to do some more research?"

I nod.

"You can use the computer in the Fiction section. The other one has some weird guy from London on it."

I can't help but laugh at the way she says, "some weird guy from London." That's Miss Julia for you.

"Thanks," I say, still laughing.

Once I find the same article as the one I printed out and now have at home, I click on the picture with me wearing the necklace, enlaring it, and hit "Zoom" to make it even bigger. I frown when I get a better veiw of the pendant.

It appears to be some kind of shell, tiny and delicate. This is pretty normal. You can find shell pendents in any gift shop. The thing that suprises me is the color and the shape. It isn't the soft pinkish cream of a normal shell. It is bright orangy-red, lavender, deep purple, and pink. There also seems to be no pattern- it isn't banded or spotted, just color here, color there, a band, a spot, a blotch. It is almost heart shaped- like to cornicopias placed with the thin, curved- in ends formimg the two bumps in the top and the wide ends touching to form the point.*

I print out the newly-zoomed picture and head home with it, wondering where in the world I got that necklace, and how it survived the ordeal with the sea when my memories did not.

That night, I'm laying in bed thinking about the strange seashell when I hear what sounds like someone knocking on the front door (sound carries really easily in my house. It makes it hard to sing in the shower, as I've learned.)

I head downstairs to investigate and find Matt, my seventeen-year-old adopted brother, standing on the front porch dripping wet and barefoot at two-thirty in the morning. I decide not to question this and instead hold the door open for him. He doesn't come inside, but rather continues to stand on the porch all shivering and wet and looking like a complete idiot. Finally, I say, "Well?"

"Is Mum up?"

"Yes, Mathew. It is quarter to three in the morning on a work night and Mum is up peeling potatoes while wearing her pajamas in complete darkness."

"So I take it that she is not awake?"

"No!"

"Well then you're coming with me."

He grabs my arm and drags me from the house. "Hey! Matt! What are you doing? Where are we going? _Matt!"_

I am tempted to scream, "Help! I'm being abducted by my brother!" but I decide agianst it. Especially since he actually has the courtesy to explain where he's taking me in the middle of the night.

"A whale beached himself and we need some help until the rescue people come with their big crane thingy to haul the whale into the water. I forget what that's called. Could just be a crane, actually... Anyway, I was going to get Dad untill I remembered that he left for London on business this morning. So you'll have to do."

"Oh! It's for an animal. In that case, I will happily comply. So you can let go of my arm now."

He does, and we run to the beach together.

The whale is enormous. I mean, I knew whales were big, and I've seen one while on a boat before, but seeing the entire thing out of the water makes its sheer size even more easily seen. It is not just big. It is **BIG**.

One of Matt's freinds, Owen, shoves a bucket into my hands and instructs me to help keep the whale wet. So I join the other people with buckets, running back and forth from the water to the whale, water, whale, water, whale...

Finally, I pause to catch my breath and take a moment to pity the people who have been there almost all night. At least all the running around helps to keep me warm.

Owen hangs up his cell phone and jogs across the sand to talk to Matt. They talk a moment, heads bent, then Matt yells, "Hey! People! Listen up!" The people around me stop to listen. "We've got some bad news. The whale rescue crew can't get their crane down here because of all the rocks and the dunes. And the whale won't survive until high tide, so we can either try to push it in ourselves, or... well, that's it. So everyone come around to this side and we'll see what we can do. But I must warn you... the whale's chances aren't looking too good."

I can't beleive it. The poor whale is going to die! Looking into his big eye, determination runs through me. We can't do it, but we can try. And this whale has lived through this much- why can't he live another couple of hours?

Why can't the whale survive?

Before I can step forward to help with the pushing, something pulls me from the direction of the sea. It isn't really pulling, I guess, not physically pulling. I can't explain the feeling other than saying it felt like the sea is pulling me. Or rather, like _I _am pulling _it. _

_"Marie!_ Move!" Matt suddenly yells.

I turn around and gape. Angling above my head in a perfect arch is the most enormous wave I've ever seen. It crests right over me and crashes down between the whale and the makeshift rescue crew. When it receeds, the whale is gone, and I walk away from the ocean unharmed and perfectly dry. I have no idea what just happend, or how. All I know is that I am suddenly very, very tired, and that I just walked away from something that shouldn't have even been possible- wasn't possible- but which happened anyway.

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><p>*I have a picture of one of these shells as my avatar. So if the description made no sense, look there. :) By the way, I totally made up the colors to make it more interesting. The shape's that of a real shell, though- a very rare one.<p>

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><p><strong>Yay! First chapter= Finished! I quite proud of the length. It's actually pretty long for me. Anywho, I know that the name Mathew is so very played at this point, but it was the first name that came to mind, so I used it. <strong>

**Sorry for any spelling mistakes. I've got no idea how to spell "cornicopia." But you do know what I mean, right? Like the thing you put squash and stuff in for Thanksgiving? Unless you live not-in-America, then I'm pretty sure you don't have Thanksgiving.**

**Wow, I just got really off-subject. Anyway, please review, thanks for reading, and that's all.**

**Mucho love-o,**

**Live :D**


	3. Two: Thanks For The Heart Attacks

**Hello again! **

**Much thanks to my one faithful reader, MaryandMerlin! I totally shoulda done what you thought I did, lol... I, however, have other things in mind! (Moo-ha-haaaa!)**

**This is the point where a disclaimer may come in handy: I do not own Ingo, or the characters, places, etc. in that book. All I own is Marie.**

**I'm exetremely excited to continue with Marie's adventures, so I won't make this too long...**

**Thanks, you make my life, and that's all for now!**

**Mucho love-o,**

**Live :D**

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><p><strong>Two<strong>

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><p>I'm cleaning out my closet when I make my next major breakthrough.<p>

"Ouch!" I've leaned on the corner of a little box with very sharp corners. Frowning, I pick up the box. It's very small, only a couple of inches across, made out of wood and painted dark blue. There is a golden latch on one side. sitting back on my heals, I open the latch, then lift the lid.

Inside is a heart shaped seashell on a silver string.

I gasp and gently take out the necklace. I can't believe that I've actually found it- I thought it was lost ages ago! Grinning like a lunatic, I slip the string over my head and look in the mirror on the wall over my bed, marveling at my lucky find and at the way the shell looks on me, almost like the colors were chosen specificly for me- the blues and greens match my eyes, the oranges my hair, and the pinks make my skin look somehow less pale. It's beautiful

The only question left is what kind of a shell it is, and how I got it... and, since the library is closed on Sundays and we don't have a computar, there is only one place to go to look for that information- the beach.

I hurry downstairs (completely forgetting about my closet). "Hi, Mum, I'm going to the beach, be back in time for dinner, bye." I race outside before she can argue.

There is a song stuck in my head. I don't know where it came from, only that it's there. I start humming it to myself as I walk... then mouthing the words... then whispering them... then singing.

_"I wish I was away in Ingo_

_Far across the briny sea_

_Sailing over the deepest oceans..."_

I trail off as I reach the beach. There is no one else there- it is, after all, a small town and a cloudy day.

I kick off my sandels and take off my sundress (don't worry, I put on a swimsuit before I left), tossing them both into the sand. I keep on the necklace, deciding that I'll just have to be careful about losing it in the ocean. I want to have it with me to compare it to any othr shells I may find.

I shiver as I wade into the water. Goosebomps rise on my arms and legs immediatly. "It's way too early in the year to be doing this," I mutter, but I continue into the waves intill the water's up to my chin. Then, I dive under.

You'd think that my experience with the sea when I was little would have traumitized me a little, but what actually happened is quite the oppisite. I love the ocean more than anything else. Where ever I am, if I can't see the water, smell the salt or hear the waves, I get really jumpy.

I blink my eyes underwater untill the salt no longer stings them and scan the bottom for shells. Nothing but a clamshell. I go up for air and try again. And again. And again. This goes on for maybe a whole hour, unsuccessfuly, of course. Soon, I'm fed up with the whole thing. Deciding it's a waste of time and I should just wait for study hall tomorrow when I will have access to a computar, I take a deep breath and try one last dive.

I rake my fingers through the sand as I swim (maybe something interesting is buried...?). After a little while of finding nothing in or under the sand but a hermit crab who was not happy to see me, I begin to run out of breath. I look up from the ocean floor to find myself staring into the face of a boy. Surprised, I push off from the bottom and arrive in the air choking and sputtering and wondering what kind of a stupid kid would swim up to me and randomly sit there inches away from my head waiting for me to look up and have a heart attack. I cross my arms over my chest and wait for the kid to come up so I can slap him.

He doesn't.

Either I just ran into Guiness Book of World Records holder for "Longest time spent underwater with no air," the boy drowned, or I was imagining things. Silently praying that there is no passed-out kid on the one day that I am on the beach and no one else is, I put my face in the water and look around. The boy is gone. I start to wonder if I should be releived or not, but don't have time because I see a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. I whirl around to find nothing but empty water. At this point, my imagination is working double-time to come up with explinations for what's going on, and coming up with all manner of sea monsters and the ghosts of people who sunk on ships. I try to tell myself that I'm being silly, but I can't shake off the feeling that I'm being watched. So I hurry to shore and stand on the beach, shivering and wondering what just happened.

I'm about to turn around and go home when I once agian get the unsettling feeling that I'm being watched. Slowly, almost afraid of what I may see, I turn and look at the jetty.

Sitting on the last rock is a boy, his face turned in my direction and his dark eyes focused on me. I just stare at him, and I swear I see him grin.

When I get home, Matt has gotten back from Owen's house and Mum is argueing with Dad over the phone. "Yes, I _know _we were only supposed to be fostering her, but Richard-"

Something tells me they're argueing about me. I sigh and go upstairs to take a shower.

That night at dinner, tension practically crackles in the air. Mum and Matt keep on looking at eachother and at me, speaking some sort of silent language. Trying to break the akward silence, I say cheerfully, "So, how'd everybody's day go?"

"Marie, honey, there's something I need to talk to you about," Mum says abruptly.

"Oh. Um, okay. That doesn't really answer my question, but sure, go ahead."

"Marie-" Mum starts.

"Can I be excused? I have, er, homework." Matt interupts. Mum and I both stare at him. He's barely eaten a thing. That is very unusual for him.

"Are you feeling okay?" Mum asks.

"Yeah. I've just got homework."

"On a Sunday?"

"Er... Yeah."

"Alright, then."

Matt jumps up and hurries away. I can't take it anymore. This is all way too weird. My whole day- no, my whole _life _has been way too weird.

"What's going on? Why's everyone acting so strange?" I ask. Then, suddenly, it dawns on me. "Is this about that arguement you were having with Dad earlier? About how you weren't supposed to keep me? You're going to give me back now, aren't you? Send me off to Child Services, or whatever?"

Mum winces, like,_ Well, when you put it like _that,_ it sounds wrong! _"Now, Marie, it isn't really like that. There's just a chance-"

I don't want to hear it. I'm suddenly so mad at her. She kept me this long, why not just four more years, untill I'm eighteen and can move out? Is she really going to do this to me _now? _"Of course not. Of course it isn't. I'm going-" Going where? Where can I go? If it weren't Sunday, it would be the library, but of course it's closed. And, sadly, I don't really have any freinds. So I guess that leaves... "-to the beach."

I slam the door behind me.

_Splash_. Another rock hits the water. I watch the ripples fan out over the calm sea before throwing the next. _Splash. _

I'm standing on the last rock in the jetty, trying to forget about everything. Guess how that's working out for me. Not well. Well, if I can't forget about it, I might as well rage about it.

"I cannot believe this. You don't say, 'Oh, what a cute little girl, I'll foster her,' take the girl home, keep her for ten years, _then _decide to give her back when she thinks she's got a family. It's just not right," I mutter angrily, throwing another rock.

"Not- right- not- right..." I throw rocks with each word. Eventually, I run out of rocks in my little pile, so I just sit there, looking out over the vast sea. My anger runs out, too, leaving me realizing how real this is, how Matt is no longer my brother and Mum isn't my Mum and Dad isn't my Dad. I'm all alone now. My bottom lip starts to quiver and my throat closes up. I try to blink back the stinging tears, but it's too late, and blinking just makes them fall. I bury my head in my arms.

I feel someone touch my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

I jump about ten feet in the air. "Wha- Ah!" I almost fall off the rock, but a boy catches my arm. It's the same boy from before- the one that freaked me out. "Hey! You're the Guiness Book of World Records kid who drowned but apparently not and-" I pause to catch my breath and cross my arms over my chest. "You know, you really shouldn't give people heart attacks. It's kind of rude. And anyway, one of these days someone's gonna punch you, or something."

I sound like a raving lunatic, even to myself. Luckily, the boy just laughs. It's the sort of annoying laugh that is contagious. I mean, you could fall down the stairs and be lying flat on your back and he'd be laughing at you and you'd start laughing, too. I manage to just smile, however. I'm in too bad a mood to laugh. Instead, I force my lips to quite smiling and just glare at him. He's still grinning and looking at me, thus making me have an exetremely hard time keeping a straight face. I look down to hide my grin.

And I nearly fall off the rock agian.

"Oh my God, you're a-"

"Do _not_ say mermaid."

"A... you're a, um... a not...not a... a non-mermaid...?"

He laughs agian. "Try 'Mer_._'"

"A Mer," I breath. My bad mood kind of diminishes. It happens when you are in total and absolute shock. Suddenly, I grin. "Wow, that explains _so much!" _

I'm thinking of the way he disappeared earlier, and how he didn't come up for breath.

He smiles- not a grin, a small, almost sad smile. "I thought it might." the way he says it makes my think that he's not thinking about earlier today- or earlier this week, or month, or even year.

Then, his gaze settles on my necklace.

I gasp when I see that he has one, too.

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><p><strong>Whoah! Extreme cliffhanger! hehe, I promise to update soon as not to be mean.<strong>

** Guess who the random Mer person is! Is it:**

**A) Faro,**

**B) Faro,**

**or...**

**C) Faro**

**Hmmmm... I wonder...**

**:) Review Please!**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**

**P.S. Can you tell I stink at Spanish? I've got no clue what 'love' is de Espanol. Or if 'Much' is really 'mucho'. Or even how to make an accent thingy above the 'e' in 'Espanol.' (That is where the accent thingy belongs, right? Or is it the 'o'...? I'm such a fail... :))**

**P.P.S. Sorry for mistakes. I'm not good at spelling.**

**P.P.P.S. 2,283 words! Whooooooooooop!**


	4. Three: Nerfani

**Alright, so to jump straight into it, I was going to make the plot of my story different, but, thanks to an idea from my one and only reviewer and some of my own, I have decided to take it in a different direction. The reason why I tell you this is because these next couple of chapters may not be the greatest ever, as this is a very sudden plot change****, and I'm still not quite sure where I'm going with it. **

**Just saying!**

**Also, I apoligize for the wait for this chapter (it's my longest yet!) I've been supery dupery busy, what with Independence day and all. That paired with some mighty writer's block made me take much longer than I intended. So super sorry about that, I'll try not to let it happen agian!**

**Thanks so much!**

**xxx Mucho love-o,**

**Live :D**

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><p><strong>Two<strong>

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><p>I am just able to stop myself from blurting out, "Where'd you get that?" and making myself seem even more crazy than I already have. Of course, I also just met something- some<em>one- <em>that shouldn't exist, and not many people would act especially sane after, during, or (depending on whether or not the thing they've met actually does exist) before something like that happens to them, so no one can really hold that one agianst me.

Instead, I swallow hard and try to think of something better to say. "So, um..." This is going well.

He is studying me closely, a little frown on his face, like he's trying to remember something. Suddenly, his face brightens. "I know you! You look a lot different now. But I'm certian I know you."

"Uh, no, I don't think we've met."

"Of course we have! How can you not remember? It was some years ago, but-" he stops dead. "Oh. Oh, you hit your head. Of course."

It all suddenly clicks into place. He lives in the sea. I was found... _in the sea. _The scar on my forehead, his remembering me hitting my head, his knowing me. The matching shell necklaces.

I can't believe it. Someone who knows me! I mean, the pre-memory-loss me.

"No, I really don't remember you."

"You're sure you don't remember? You don't know someone named Faro?"

I shake my head. "But I think I _did_."

Faro smiles. "I think I know how to make you remember."

"How?"

"Hold on to my wrist."

"What? What will that do?"

"Not anything- not yet," he says, sounding impatient. "Not anything until we go down there."

He points to the sea beneath our rock.

"Down there?"

"Yes. But you'll have to forget about Air."

"What are you talking about? I can't just _forget_ about it! I need it!"

He shakes his head. "You _think_ you do. But you don't. When we dive, I need you to let all of your breathe out, and not even think about taking another. When you're with me, you won't drown. But if you think about breathing, you will."

I frown. That made little to no sense, but what other choice do I have? I mean, I suppose I could just get up and leave right now, but that would ruin all my chances of knowing who I am. I can feel a battle raging inside me- my doubt and fear versus my own will, my longing to have a past.

The battle is quite short. It doesn't take long to decide what side is stronger.

"Okay. I'll try. But if I die, it's on you."

I take his wrist, close my eyes, and take a deep breathe. I lean forward a little bit, but I don't dive untill I feal Faro tugging on my fingers. My fear still had enough strength to make me hesitate.

We dive together, and I'm clinging onto Faro's wrist like it's the only thing anchoring me to life, which I know somehow it is. There's water in my nose and my ears and my mouth, and it's pressing down on me on all sides and I can't breathe. I'm on the verge of panic, my lungs beginning to ache and burn.

Finally, I can't hold my breath any longer. I let it out in a rush of bubbles fom my lips, and the sea rushes in to take its place. I'm sure I'm about to die when I feel the water invading my lungs, but instead of causing more pain, the water extinguishes the fire that burns in my lungs and all the pain's gone, just like that. I blink my eyes open and there's Faro, grinning at me. "Here we are."

I look around. We are deep under the water, deeper than I've ever been , with the surface above us wobbling and shimmering like liquid stained glass. I turn and am just able to see the shore far behind us, a foggy smudge in the distance. I can't believe it. I'm here, in the sea, far beneath the surface with the waves crashing above me. It's beautiful and mysterious and vast and so utterly, utterly amazing.

"...Wow," I breathe, and Faro laughs. After the initial shock has passed, though, I'm filled with questions once more. "How is that possible? I mean, nothing can live without oxygen! it's not possible!''

"You do have oxygen, Nerfani, it's just-"

I interrupt him. "What did you just say?"

He frowns. "You have oxygen?"

"No, no. I mean, you called me Nerfani."

"Yes. That's your name. isn't it?"

"Uh. No. I'm Marie." It occurs to me suddenly that we never actually introduced ourselves. I know Faro's name, but only because he was asking if I remembered him.

Faro looks confused for a moment before his face brightens a bit with a realization. "And how do you know that?"

"What?"

"You forgot everything. So how do you know what your name is?"

Oh! Duh. I can't believe I didn't think of that. I named myself Marie a long, long time ago because of a song I heard- _Ave Maria._ It was actually the first song I heard after losing my memory, so it was more or less the first time I'd ever heard music. I thought it was so beautiful, I decided I would name myself after it.

"So my real name is Nerfani."

Faro nods. "At least, that's what you told me the first time we met."

_The first time we met. _It's a bit strange, thinking that I've met Faro before, was actually freinds with him (or at least, that's what it seems like. I don't think just aquintences would remember each other after so many years. Well, he remembers me, anyways) and don't recall any part of it.

Faro suddenly seems distracted. His eyes seem far away.

''Faro?"

"I have an idea," is all he says.

"_This_ was your great idea?" I cry, terrified. Faro has decided to take me to ride on a current. Speed is not something I enjoy. This I discovered when Matt took me on a rollercoaster at the amusement park a couple of years ago. I was so scared, I clung to his arm and squeezed my eyes shut and wouldn't let go even when the ride was over, so he had to drag me out of the seat and down the stairs and back to where Mum was waiting.

"Well, yes. Sort of. It's half of it," Faro says, perfectly calm. He flicks his tail lazily.

"Half of an idea?"

"Yes."

"Right, then." I'm trying to be as calm as Faro is. It's working a touch better on the outside then it is inside.

We stay in the current for a very long time, and after a while, I find myself less tense and afraid. Finally, Faro yells, "We have to switch currents- hang on!" he grabs my arm and pulls me from the current, then straight into another. After that, we switch currents a couple more times. The last time Faro directs us out of a current and I find myself not in another, but instead in still water, I'm almost disappointed.

In the distance, I can see something, hazy and indestinct. "Is that the shore?"

"No, it's the other half of my idea. Come on, I'll show you." He takes off. His strong tail carries him much faster than my own human legs will. It's a struggle for me to catch up, even though he slows down for me.

When I see what the other half of Faro's idea is, I stop dead. "Uh, Faro? Are those sharks?"

He laughs at my reaction. "They are. But don't worry, they won't hurt you unless they see you as a threat."

"A threat? A threat to what?" Somehow I don't believe a shark could feel threatened by anything- especially not me.

"To that." Faro sweeps his arm to indicate what has now turned from a hazy smugde to a feild of rock formations, and in the middle, a large sea cave. I would be amazed and even enchanted if it weren't for the sharks. "The Great Alphs."

"It's beautiful, but..." I trail off. "_Sharks,"_ I finally squeek, and Faro laughs agian. "They're extremely devoted to duty. Like, I said, they won't bother you, especially since they already know me-" He stops dead, eyes wide. ''Um, I suggest you don't turn around."

"Why?" Of course, I turn around.

And find myself staring straight into the eyes of a hammorhead shark. "Nerfani, don't scr-" I hear from behind me. But I don't catch the end of Faro's sentence. I'm too busy screaming.

The shark comes right at me. I want to run, but of courese, I'm in water so I can't. Instead, on pure impulse I throw my arms out in front of me, like that will do something.

The amazing thing? It _does_ do something.

There's a feeling like a push or a pull inside me (I'm reminded of the time with the beached whale) and a current of water rushes past me and bowls the shark over, sending it somersaulting through the water. I don't even have time to be confused and amazed before it rights itself and comes straight back at me. I start to say something very tough and brave-sounding like, _"Eeek_!" but it dies in my throat when the shark, instead of tearing me apart, swims right up to me and rubs its head agianst me, like a dog. ''Um."

I crane my neck around to look at Faro. He's grinning. "I think Ari remembers you. Sharks have got very, very long memories."

"So... this is, uh, normal shark behavior?" The shark's begun to swim around my legs in a circle. Watching it makes me dizzy.

"Not at all," Faro replies. "They just like you. A lot. I've got no idea why. They always got offended when we tried to ask them about that. Sharks are very easily offended... by most people, anyway."

"...Oh. 'Kay then."

"You can just ask him to go away, you know. I can see he's making you uncomfortable."

Well, I don't think many people would be all that comfortable with a shark hanging around their legs. But not many people are loved by sharks, either.

I look down at (what did Faro call him?) Ari. "Uh, could you go away? Please?" And guess what? He does! I can't help but grin. I just bossed around a shark! Well, sort of.

"Very impressive," I hear a voice say. I turn and see an old Mer just inside the perimeter of where the sharks are patroling. "Hello, Saldowr!" Faro calls. The Mer- Saldowr- doesn't acknwledge Faro. His eyes are fixated on me. "Who taught you to do that?" he asks me, eyes narrowed.

"Do what?"

"Control the water like that. Someone must have taught you. It takes a great deal of effort and time to learn. And you have to have a certian... quality, to be able to coax Ingo to do what you want it to..." He trails off, eyeing me.

Controlling the water. I never really thought that that's what I've been doing. That night with the whale, I dismissed the wave as some sort of tsunami that went up instead of in, caused by the moon's gravitational pull, or something, I don't know. And just now- well, I have no clue. "No one taught me," I say. "I just... was frightened, I guess, and it happened."

Saldowr looks at me, just looks and looks at me. After a long time, he says, "There is only one person in the world who can do that." He turns to Faro. "You finally succeeded in finding her, then?"

Faro smiles. "I did."

* * *

><p><strong>YES! I finished it! It's not one of my best, I'll admit, but the ending got a little better, right? I think so. <strong>

**and I just must say it: IT'S A PUPPY-SHARK! You gotta love Ari the puppy-shark 3**

**Also, I have an anouncement: I'll be going away for a week (to camp, in case you care, hehe) so I probably won't be updating for a little while. Once I get back, I'll get right to work on the next chaptor, I promise!**

**Oh, and let's really quickly throw some confetti in the air for my longest chapter yet: 2,480 words! lets go for 3,000! (I'm not good at length, so I just _had_ to share my excitement :))**

**Thanks agian!**

**xxx**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**


	5. Four: Questions

**Good day, my fellow fanficers!**

**Today, I have a challenge for you! I am looking to change the name of this very fanfic that you read right at this very moment, but I'm bad with titles, so I NEED YOUR HELP! Uppercase for emphasis! Please submit suggestions in comments. Enter for a chance to win! (No purchase neccasary. Many will enter, one will win. There is no prize, by the way, except having your idea as the title.)**

** I apologize to those of you who are very commited to Saro and/or Fapphire-ness. I am actually one of those people. I have nooooooo clue how I'm going to get around that. (However I do it, though, it will probably produce a whole lotta greif and unhappyness for poor Nerfani. So sorry to her, too.)**

**And now, it is time for a new chapter! Enjoy!**

** Mucho love-o,**

**Live :D xxx**

* * *

><p><strong> I<strong>t really does amaze me how perfectly things can work out. It doesn't happen very often, but, sometimes, you'll get lucky and a horrible situation can actually end up quite nicely. This is the way my entire life seems to be going.

Well, to some extent.

You see, before Mum and Dad 'adopted' me, I was one of those kids who was passed around from foster family to foster family to foster family, and not a single family kept me for more than a month or two. You know, one of those kids who people either look at and pity, or they think, "Oh, get over yourself, kid. Your life isn't so bad. At least you're not on the streets." And I am NOT getting back into _that_ situation agian.

And, thanks to Faro, Saldowr, and my own cleverness, and as long as my plan works, I won't.

* * *

><p>When I show up back at the house dripping wet and beaming with exciting new secrets at dawn, Mum embraces me and gushes about how worried she and Matt had been, then proceeds to yell at me, calling me "young lady" and "Marie Hope Albaster" a bunch, which, as I've mentioned, tells me to shut up, tune her out, and apologize at the end. I am then sent to my room. But that's okay, because I'm about to burst with silent solutions and secret plans, and I need some time alone to get started.<p>

I sit at my desk with a laptop I've borrowed from Matt (he just got it a day or two ago, and was exetremely reluctent to allow me to use it) and open up to Microsoft Office Word. I position my hands above the keyboard and pause.

Because I have no idea where to start.

My initial plan had been to run away, or at least make it look like I had. But then I realized that if I were to just disappear, even with a note, Mum and Dad would freak out and soon Dad'd have the police and MI6 and the FBI and every other authoritive agency out looking for me and causing and all sorts of hulabuloo, because that is just the nature of Dad. And Mum would be blaming herself for everything and crying constantly and being of no help to anyone, because that is just the nature of Mum. So that is very much out of the question.

Then, Faro had suggested making it look like I've died somehow. I thought this was brilliant... untill I thought, once agian, that Mum and Dad would also freak out and Mum would (once agian) be blaming herself, and Dad trying to comfort her, and both of their lives would be ruined thereafter because they would both feel guilty. So that won't work, either.

It was Saldowr who thought of the final solution. What I'd have to do is convince everyone that some relative has been found, a distint cousin or something. That all my research on my family tree and myself and my past at the library had finally paid off and I was going to live with them. It was up to me to figure out how to go about doing this, and he and Faro would figure out the rest. How? I don't know. But I've decided to trust them. Because what else can I do?

So that's how I ended up sitting with my hand poised on the keys of Matt's laptop trying to figure out how I was supposed to make an official-looking adoption certificate along with a whole bunch of other documents when all I've got to work with is a few of my own adoption papers, the never-ending void of not-very-helpful information that is Google search, and my own knowledge of computers and fancy speech.

I have so many questions and so few answers- how do you make a fake emial out of a Word document? Why does Google never give you the direct information you want, but rather a bunch of answers to questions only similiar to your own? How do you spell 'aquinted'? Because that's how I'm spelling it, and I'm pretty sure that it's wrong.

And then there are the more important questions: Is anyone going to believe this? Are Faro and Saldowr go to pull through and figure out the rest of the plan? What happens if the whole thing fails?

How the heck am I going to pull this off?

And, finally, there is the one question that, for some reason, is always there, just at the back of my mind, nagging, destracting. It is one of the less-important questions, but it's bothering me so much more than the others...

_Who's my "couson" going to be?_

Because all I was told is her name: Sapphire.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry if that was a bit short, boring, etc. You know how it is with writer's block. Also, I keep forgetting: is it "couson'' or "cousin"?<strong>

**Please remember to submit a title idea. You can do more than one, if you like. That'd be GREAT, actually. But if you can't think of one, that's ok, as I know what it's like to not be able to think of ideas. That's how my entire life with this fanfic's been going.**

**Finally, I thank you SO much for reading! Every time I look at the traffic stats and find that I've actually got people reading my fic, I am so very, very happy! You are much thanked!**

**I believe that that's all for now!**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**xxx**

**Live :D**


	6. Five: Eyes Like Owls

**Hello agian!**

**I haven't got much to say here, so I'll make this short n' sweet:**

**Please remember to submit ideas for a new title!**

**...Woah, I think that's all. Usually, I end up getting all off-track and then it starts getting reeeally long... huh.**

**Well, thanks for reading! Enjoy! xxx**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**

* * *

><p>I know it's time to put my plan into action when the phone rings and the name on the little screen shows up as "Trewhella."<p>

I rush to pick it up before Mum, who's cooking supper.

"Hello?" I try to keep my voice from quivering.

"Nerfan- erm, I mean, Marie?" It's a young girl- Sapphire. I start to answer, but Mum interrupts.

"Who is it, Marie?"

I paste an excited grin on my face and say, "It's the couson I told you about! You know, the one in-" What town was it? Arg, I can't remember! "In, um... er, um, um, ummmmmm..." Was it Cornwall? Or was it maybe that they _used_ to live in Cornwall? Whatever, I'm saying it was Cornwall. "... er, um, Cornwall."

"Well, you haven't got any others, have you?" Mum says.

Oh. Right. Duh. Guess it didn't really matter, anyways. "Weeeeell... no, not really." I blush a little.

Glad that that's over, I put the phone back up to my ear to hear Sapphire snorting with barely contained laughter. "What're you laughing at?" I grumble.

"N-nothing," she manages. Okay, now I'm tempted to hang up. But I don't, because I hear a boy in the backround. It must be Sapphire's brother... Conor, I think it is. "What the heck are you doing, Saph?" Then, "You're _impossible._ Lemme handle this," he says.

There's some static as he grabs the phone. "Hey, Conor! Give it back!" Sapphire cries. "_Heeeeeeeeey!"_

"What if her parents want to talk to you, Sapphy? You know you're bad at lying... to grown-ups, 'd probably freak out and hang up, or something! This needs to be handled by a mature adult!"

"Oh, yes, Conor. You most certainly qualify as a _mature adult." B_ut she gives up and allows Conor to take the phone.

I can't help but glance with a little grin at Matt, who's sitting at the table doing his maths homework. The entire arguement betwwen Sapphire and Conor seemed like exactly the sort we'd have.

"Hello? You still there?" Conor says.

"Yeah. Although I think my Mum heard all that racket. She's giving me a look."

Conor laughs. "Sorry about that."

"S'okay." There's a pause, then Conor says, "...So. We're supposed to be convincing your Mum that you've got cousons out here who are gonna take you in?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So... uh, we'll take you in. Now talk all loud so your Mum'll hear."

**"Really? That's _great!" _**I say, much louder than nessicary.

"What's great, Marie?" Mum asks, as if on cue.

"They said they'll take me in!" I try to seem genuinley excited. Which I kind of am, I guess. It's nice to know there are other people on my side- Faro, Saldowr, and now Sapphire and Conor.

"Oh, that is great! That's _wonderful!" _Mum _is_ genuinley excited. She's grinning from ear to ear.

"Isn't it lucky that you've suddenly found these cousons _right_ when you'd have had to go on to another home?" Matt says.

"Uh... yeah, it is." I frown. Well, then. _That_ didn't make it seem like he's suspicious of me at all...

But he can't be, right? How could he possibly know?

Conor says from the the phone, "How'd it work?"

"Perfect. I think."

"You think?"

I glance agian at Matt. "It's nothing."

* * *

><p>I'm going to live with Sapphire and Conor in three weeks, when school ends for summer. Or at least, I <em>think<em> that's what I'm doing. Faro just told me that he'd figure things out... and he never told me what the rest of the plan is. I've been down to the beach lots of times since I last saw Faro, but he still hasn't turned up. It also appears as though he hasn't clarified for Conor and Sapphire, either.

I'm heading down to the library agian- not for any particular reason, but rather just because it's an exetremely hot day and the library has air conditioning.

I'm taking my usual shortcut through the woods behind the library when I hear a voice.

"Hello, Nerfani."

I freeze and turn around. Standing in the path is an old woman with eyes that remind me of an owl's.

"H-hello." I'm looking around wildly, like an explination for the woman's sudden appearence...

Not to mention her knowing that my real name's Nerfani.

"Well, it is your name, isn't it?"

Did she just...? No. No one can read minds. It isn't possible. Is it?

"Well, come on, girl. Answer me."

"Huh? Oh- yes. It is. But how'd you know? Who are you?"

She smiles. "They call me Granny Carne. I know things."

Apparently so.

She takes a step toward me. "Now I've got a question: Who are _you?"_

_"_What do you mean? I thought you knew. I mean, you knew my name- my real one..." I'm beginning to question this woman's sanity.

Granny Carne justlooks at me for a moment , her owl eyes peircing me like she's looking inside me and reading me like a book.

"I can feel the power radiating off you, girl. You've got magic- but it isn't Earth magic, is it? No, not at all... you've power over the sea. That's it."

I suddenly recall that moment in Ingo, when I first met Saldowr. He'd said that I can control the sea, too. But he said nothing about power, or magic. He'd said that I can coax Ingo to do what I want. Two very different things.

"That's really all that magic is, you know," Granny Carne says.

"Huh?" Agian with the creepy mind-reading thing!

"Magic is just the ability to connect with the Earth, or Ingo- or, if you're lucky, both- and coaxing it to do something. Usually, it's something it wouldn't normally do, which is what makes it so difficult. You can do that... so, you've got magic." She gives me that peircing stare agian, and says, "Be careful how you use it, Nerfani. You are extremely powerful, but do not waste that power." With that, she is gone.

A moment later, I hear an owl singing its sad, slightly chilling, and, well, _magical_ song.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay for a new chapter! And Granny Carne! I've always really liked her. She's an interesting character, doncha think?<strong>

**I know you'll get annoyed with me ("Jeez, Live, I get it! Now quit bugging me about it!") but please make title suggestions!**

**And finally, just as a warning, it'll probably take a while for Faro to come back into the story- another sudden plot change (I won't tell you what) has messed my plans for the whole romance thing up :p**

**Thanks for reading! Bye! xxx**

**Mucho love-o,**

**Live :D**


	7. Six: Memories, Plans, and Mushy Zucchini

**Guess who needs a new version of Microsoft Word?**

**Oh! Oh! I know!**

**ME.**

**As it turns out, my spell check FAILS.**

**I've been saying "Couson" this entire time. So thanks a lot, spell check. Meh.**

**So that's why I'm not in a very good mood today. Well, I actually don't care that much about that, I suppose... I'm more mad about my entire chapter being deleted! I had it aaaaall typed up, and it wasn't bad, either, and when I tried to save it, it all got DELETED! So this is my second time trying to type this. So enjoy it, cuz I worked hard to get it to you. -Sigh-**

**Mucho love-o, **

**Live :D**

* * *

><p>"Matt! Marie! I'm going to the supermarket."<p>

"What? But who's gonna make me lunch?"

"Matt, you're sixteen. I think you are old enough to make your own lunch."

"No, I most certainly am not!"

"Fine, then. Marie'll make it."

"No I won't! He can starve to death for all I care!"

"Marie."

"What? I'm even younger than him!"

_"Marie."_

"Okay, okay! Fine. But all he's getting is some peanut butter slopped on some bread."

"Do I have to say your name agian?"

(sigh) "Whaddaya want, Matt?"

"Something zucchini-ish, I think."

"Zucchini, huh?"

"Yup."

"Well, I gotta go. Don't kill eachother while I'm gone, got it?"

"We'll try, Mum."

"Good." (slam)

That is what the first day of summer vacation sounds like. It is also the beginning of my very last week with Mum, Dad, and Matt. Dad, by the way, was supposed to come home two days ago, but he got caught up in London.

Agian.

Mum was not very happy about that.

Although it's only a week untill I'm leaving, I still have no idea what is actually going to happen- where I'll go. I don't think I'll really be staying with Sapphire and Conor. I mean, I guess I could be, but I spoken with them, and they don't think that's the case, either. Faro most certainly has more to his plan- or at least, he makes it seem like he does. It would be helpful if he actually decided to show up at the cove sometime-

"Marie, are you okay?"

"Huh? Does it seem like something's wrong?"

"Well, you're standing there staring out the window with your hands in a mushy zucchini. So, yeah."

"Aw, shoot! The zucchini's mushy!"

"I told you we should've picked it last week."

Why does Matt have to be right all the time?

As I wash the zucchini mush off my hands, Matt studies me closely.

After a couple of minutes, I turn to him, raise an eyebrow, and say, "What?"

He just continues to look at me for a moment, then says slowly, "You're leaving in a week."

You'd think that'd be old news by now."Yeah. I am."

He gets up and walks into the sitting room, then comes back shortly with his laptop. "I have a question for you."

"Feel free to ask," I reply absent- mindedly. What am I gonna do about this stinking zucchini? No one wants to eat a mushy zucchini. I wonder if there's a way to make zucchini sauce, or something, like you do when apples get overripe?

"I was on Microsoft Word a couple of days ago."

"Mm-hm..." Oh! I know! Mum made zucchini soup once! Maybe she's got the recipe for that someplace...

"And I found this." He turns his laptop around to show me.

On the screen is my faked adoptian certificate.

"A-and?" My voice wavers.

"And... why's it there?"

"Oh! 'Cause... um, that's because the... adoption service... erm, people emailed it to me. And I copy and pasted it onto Word so I could delete the email."

"You've got an email address?"

"Y-yeah." Get yourself together, Nerfani! You're a good liar. Just make an email address at the library later.

"What is it?"

"My email address?" This lie is falling apart very quickly.

"Yes."

"It's... MarieHope at... gmail," I stutter. _Smooth, Nerfani._

"I see."

I swallow hard and get back to my mushy zucchini.

This is not good. This is not good at all.

* * *

><p><strong>a quick AN**

**I was planning on ending the chapter here, but now I feel all bad about giving such an uneventfull, zucchini-filled and short chapter, (plus, I'll be going away agian, so this'll have to tide you over for a few weeks) so I'm gonna write more! So pretend that it's been a few days and the suspense has been building and all that, so you can enter the next part with the same excitement as you did the first... or at least, I hope you were excited. At least a little bit...?**

***the song Nerfani/Marie is singing in this chapter is "The Scientist" by Coldplay. It was stuck in my head, so I wrote it in, haha. Thought it kinda-sorta fits in with the plot, too. I dunno. :)**

* * *

><p>"Nobody said it was easy..<p>

It's such a shame for us to part.

Nobody said it was easy...

No one ever said it would be this hard.

I'm going back to the start.

I was just guessing at numbers and figures,

Pulling your puzzles apart.

Questions of science,

Science and progress,

Could not speak as loud as my heart.

Tell me you love me,

come back and haunt me,

Oh, and I rush to the start.

Nobody said it was easy,

It's such a shame for us to part...

Meh. Stupid Coldplay, with their awesome songs that get stuck in my head. Arg."

In case you can't tell, I'm in a bad mood today. The reason? Matt dumped zucchini soup on my head yesterday, and it's still stuck in my hair.

But that doesn't really matter here. What matters is that Faro has disappeared at an awful time. I called Sapphire last night, and she said that its typical for Faro to not show up at the cove for a while, but this is starting to worry me. I've been depending on Faro coming up with the rest of the plan. What if he hasn't? What am I going to do then?

I'm heading down to the cove to look for Faro. I feel like I've done this and go to the library in the past couple of weeks way to often. You'd think I have no life outside of books, computars, and the beach.

Which, at this point, I guess I kind of don't.

I reach the sand and immediatly kick off my shoes. I find myself humming agian as I walk across the sand to the jetty. I leave my shoes on the first of the rocks, where they won't be washed away by the tide, and climb across the rocks. A sudden wind blows, and I realize that I've chosen a bad day to come here. There's going to be a storm. Well, I've come this far, so I might as well go out to the end of the rocks. What's the harm? _Well, you could, you know, die, _says an annoying voice in the back of my mind. I ignore it, of course, and continue on.

For some reason, the entire situation seems familiar. Maybe some dream I had? No, no, it seems more like... a memory. Like a memory from a long time ago- from long before I lost my memory.

But it can't be. Can it?

The wind is picking up, and before I know it, I'm being pelted by rain. The rocks are getting slippery, but I _have_ to get to the end of the jetty. I just _have_ to!

I drop to my hands and knees for better balance. Is it just me, or is the jetty longer than usual?

Have I done this before?

Wait! What's that? I swear I here a voice. I look around wildly, but I can't see a thing. The wind drives the rain into my eyes. My hair is plastered to my face and back.

But there is a voice. It's- singing? The sound is so familiar.

This is all so familiar.

There it is! The last rock in the jetty! It's so close- only feet away. Inches now. And now-

There is nothing beneath me but the roiling sea.

_A little girl runs down the sandy path to the cove. _

_Her bare feet hardly touch the shore as she goes. A wind picks up, whipping her long red hair and sundress around her. There is a sense of forboding, a bit of suspense in the electricity of the oncoming storm. The sea turns gray and the waves pound the shore._

_Lightning flashes, illuminating the sillhouette of the girl climbing onto the rocks. She picks her way across them, sometimes being forced to throw her tiny body over patches of roiling ocean to get to the next. Finally, she reaches the end of her journey- the very last rock in the jetty._

_Anybody watching this scene would have put a stop to it immediatly. Even the girl would not have been doing it, if it weren't for the voice. It called to her, making her blood turn to salt water and her insides to flutter around inside her, It blinded her, direceted her to the sea._

_That's why she was there at that very moment, with the storm roaring around her. _

_The girl stands on the last rock and stares out to sea. There it is agian, that voice. She looks around, suddenly desperate to know who it is. She turns to the ocean. The voice comes from there. The water wants her to join it, to add to its vastness with herself. The call is strong, stronger than she is. It is like a Siren- it is a Siren. It is unbearable._

_Before the little girl gets the chance to hurl herself into the water, a wave washes across her. When the water receeds from the rocks, the tiny girl with the red hair and blue-green eyes that had stood on the rocks moments before has vanished._

_ Beneath the surface, she gives herself up to the sea._

* * *

><p><strong> Blame the strangeness of that chapter on my lack of sleep. Ah, sleep. I remember what it was like to sleep. Maybe I should try that agian sometime.<strong>

**Anyway, as I said earlier, I won't be updating any time soon, because I'm going off on vacation and our rental cottage has no computar, and the only wifi is from one of the neighbor's houses. Not very efficient. And we were just gettin' to the good part, too! Oh, well. At least I'll be going to the beach, so maybe I'll come back with some new insiration for the story ;)!**

**Thanks for bearing with me on that one!**

**xxx Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**

**PS have you noticed how Marie/Nerfani's getting crazier by the chapter? Huh. I wonder where she gets that from...**

**Marie/Nerfani: Yeah. I wonder...**

**Me: -Sticks tongue out-**


	8. Seven: Amar

**I'm back! **

**However, in two weeks I will be gone agian.**

**But I'm back now, so let there be a new chapter! :)**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**

**P.S. As always, if this makes no sense, blame my lack of sleep, lol.**

* * *

><p>I am falling.<p>

Falling, falling, falling into a deep black void. Falling, with no way to stop. There is nothing to grab on to. There is no way for me to grow wings and rise out of the darkness. No way at all to slow my decent.

As I fall, images flash before my eyes.

A little girl, swallowed by the sea.

A boy, human as long as you keep your gaze on the top of him- face, arms, shoulders, chest, hands. Look at his legs- where his legs should be- and he suddenly isn't.

An old man looking on with awe as I sit on a rock, waving my hand through the air and drawing tendrils of water from the sea, forming shining shapes and patterns that hang in the air for as long as I let them before splashing back into the ocean.

A shark, rubbing itself agianst my legs, protecting me and being my freind.

A glistening glass rope- a current- deep below the surface. The rush of being inside it, racing through the water.

The shout of my name. A huge wall of rock.

Blood, clouding the water.

Hands reaching down from the surface, grabbing a lock of my hair, pulling me up.

A fishing boat, a hospital bed, a foster home.

My past.

And all the while I'm falling, falling-

And then, finally, the falling stops.

I'm dazed and confused, alone in a dark nothingness, the air thick like water. No, it _is_ water. And I'm not alone. There is someone else there. I can feel a hand resting on my cheek.

A voice: "Is she okay?"

"I think so. Look, she's not so pale anymore," comes the reply. The hand on my cheek disappears as the person moves away.

I force my eyes open, but I can't see much. Nothing's in focus. It's like the time I tried on Dad's glasses to see what I looked like, but I couldn't see anything because it was all blurry. My face in the mirror looked like a pinkish balloon rimmed with red.

That's what the face hovering above me now looks like, except it's rimmed with dark brown- whoever it is must have brown hair- and it's a bit darker then I am.

After a moment, I can see better, and the balloon above me morphs into a face. The face of a girl, about my age, looking down on me with large, light brown eyes tinged with concern. At least I think her eyes are brown. They appear to be the color changing kind of eyes, where you can see all sorts of different flecks of color.

The girl turns. "She's awa-" she begins, but before she can finish, something (I don't know what- my neck is stiff and refuses to let me turn my head to see) scares her. "Oh, my goodness!" she gasps, disappearing from my veiw. "What's it doing? Why's it in- Aah, another one!"

Someone else laughs. I suddenly recognize the voice to be Faro's. "It's alright, Sapphire. Watch."

Ah, Sapphire! So I've met her at last! Well, sort of.

Something nudges my side. "Wha...?" I manage to crane my neck around to see. "Oh, Ari!" I grin at the shark. Another comes up behind it- this one appears to be a great white (actually, it's smaller than a great white, but I'm not actually all that great with shark species, so let's just say a non-hammerhead). "Hello, Amar," I say, without thinking. I reach out to stroke her nose, then stop. Amar? How'd I know that? Ari's the only shark I've ever met... right?

I look up from Amar, at Faro, who is just looking at me and grinning.

"You remember," he says.

Sapphire looks at us like we're both insane, but I just smile. Because, yes, I do remember.

* * *

><p><strong>Hooray! She remembers!<strong>

**And duoble hooray, because Sapphy's finally officially made an appearence!**

**And triple hooray, because, trust me, this is FAR from the end. Although it may seem like the entire goal of the story is for Nerfani to remember her past and the entire plot revolves around that and all, that's not it.**

**Well, actually, it was, until I realized how short that would make it and how many loose ends there still are to tie up. (Sorry this chapter was so short, by the way.)**

**I came up with a new title idea on my own, btw: In Dead Water. So I dunno, title may change. I'm just tellin' you so you'll know what to look for if you can't find Just Below the Surface one day.**

**That's all for now, so BYE!**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**


	9. Eight: Dolphins at High Tide

**Chapter 8! Ooooh, we're gettin' pretty far here! I'm quite proud! :)**

**School's starting soon... arg. I pity those of you who start school in August. August is totally still summer. **

**Oh, well. At least I get to dissect a frog this year. That should be fun! Of course, they did kill a bunch of poor, inocent little frogs before they got the chance to fully live out their little froggy lives... **

**Oh, er, sorry, I got off subject. I do that a lot. :)**

**Well, anyway...**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**

* * *

><p>On October 28th, 1997, a girl named Nerfani Heather Sianaira was born.<p>

She was raised in a little cottage by the sea, by her mother, who was born off the coast of southern Ireland.

Yes, _off the coast. _Not _in. _Off the coast.

When Nerfani was nine months old, she got thirsty, so she bid water come from the sink and into her open mouth- and it did. Her father, terrified of his daughter's strange powers, left. And never came back.

When she was four, Nerfani ran about the house yelling about a "big wave." The next day, a tsunami hit Pakistan.

The next year, Nerfani disappeared from her bed and was later found on the beach, raving about the sea singing to her. This happened nearly every week.

And the year after that, when she was six years old, Nerfani disappeared from her bed on a stormy evening.

Two years later, she was pulled from the sea by her hair, her head bleeding, her memories gone.

And her mother had vanished to the coast of southern Ireland by the end of the first year of her daughter's going missing.

I can remember it all now, my entire life, every detail there. It's like I never even lost my memory.

Too bad it took a plunge into the ocean and hours unconcious for me to finally remember.

* * *

><p>"And you remember here, too?" Faro says. He's been dragging me about all morning, testing me to make sure I absolutely positively remember EVERY detail of the two years I spent in Ingo.<p>

We are looking at of a series of submerged islands, ghastly and eerie, places where humans used to live, before Ingo took them over. It is all there, in front of me, but it doesn't much matter- even if it wasn't there, I could have seen it just as clearly in my mind, right down to the strange feeling of a sort of energy hanging around the place, a fog that is made up of memories, or ghosts of the lives that were destroyed when the sea washed over this town. In my mind, I see a family living in the house we are in front of. A perfect, happy family, with a mother and a father and a sister and a brother and maybe a baby, sitting around the dining room table eating the supper that the Mum made, the brother complaining about a project he was assigned to do for school, maybe, and the girl telling all about her freind's birthday party while the baby giggles and gurgles and plays around with his food. I can imagine-

"Nerfani? Neeerfaaaaaaniiiiiiiii..." It takes me a moment to realize that Faro has been trying to get my attention. He's gotten all up in my face now, giving me an _Are you alright? _look. I wave him away. "Yes, Faro, I remember."

He grins. "I think this is the last place, then."

"Oh, good." I'm exhausted. "So you're satisfied that I have not forgotten a single thing?"

"Not quite. There's one last thing I need to show you."

I moan. "But I thought you said-"

"I said that this was the last _place._ I mentioned nothing about dolphins."

"What? Dolphins?" I frown, searching through the mountians of memories that have piled up in my mind like snowdrifts. Dolphins, dolphins...

An image forms in my mind- smooth, gray skin beneath my fingers. Clutching a dorsal fin as we dip and twirl and leap, a single, graceful ballet dancer, the dolphin and I. Above the waves, below the waves, in and out, up and down, a needle pulling foaming white thread through sparkling deep blue silk. The dolphin's name- what was her name? She told me, but I forget that now. I suppose I can't remember every detail.

"Come on." Faro tugs on my arm, pulling me agian from my thoughts. "The tide's turning, so the dolphins'll be here soon."

"Alright." I'm just about to follow him when something catches my eye. I glance back and see, nestled in the sand, a splash of color. I pull away from Faro. He sighs loudly behind me as I swim toward the brightly coloured object. "Nerfani. You are going the wrong way."

I reach for the object and gasp. It is a shell, in the shape of a heart, like two cornicopias put together with the thin, curly ends forming the humps on top and the wide ends coming together to form the point on the bottom.

Just like the one on my necklace, which is still sitting on my dresser at home.

"Oh, wow," Faro says, having come up behind me. He looks over my shoulder at the shell, cradled gently in the palms of my hands. "That's a rare one. Wonder how it got here."

"What do you mean?"

"Those sorts of shells form in The Deep. Only a few end up in water this shallow." He flips onto his back, flicking his tail lazily. "Maybe we could give it to Sapphire. Since you and I already have one."

I don't even have time to formulate a reply before he's grabbed my wrist and is pulling me along. "The dolphins are probably wondering where we are. I asked them to meet us at that reef I showed you on the way here."

"Ah, yes. And I remembered that, too."

The dolphins are absolutely amazing. They are just as I remember them, except better, because I'm actually riding one, actually feeling the thrill of racing through the water and then leaping through the air.

When the ride finally ends, I don't want the dolphins to leave. But of course, they do, anyway.

"Here we are," Faro says.

I look around. "Where's here?"

He laughs. "Don't you recognize it? It's your own cove, where you came in."

I blink, and realize that it is. How strange is it that, after all the remembering I've done, I've forgotten something as familiar as this?

"You should probably go back now," Faro says. "You'll be coming here agian in a while, anyway, when your family thinks you're going to live with Sapphire.

"What?" Go back? Now? I've been here for days! _Weeks!_ What the heck am I going to tell Matt and Mum?

"Don't worry," Faro says with his uncanny way of knowing just what you're thinking, "It's only been a couple of hours. Up there, anyway."

"...What?"

"Time works differently in the Air than it does in Ingo," Faro says it like it should've been obvious. "Hurry up, though. Can't you feel the tide turning?"

"As a matter of fact, I can."

* * *

><p><strong>Ooh, and the plot thickens!<strong>

**Actually, it doesn't. That was sort of a boring chapter. Sorry :) **

**Sneak Peak at the next chapter: I****'m thinking maybe Granny Carne should come in agian to confuse Nerfani some more. Granny Carne's quite good at that, hehe.**

**Is it just me, or do I say "remember" a lot? Huh. **

**Please review! I haven't actually been getting reveiws of late. I'm blaming school starting.**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**


	10. Nine: Things Unknown

**Wow! It's been SO long!**

**I am SO very sorry! What with school, I haven't gotten a chance to update. Stupid school. **

**Well, anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! And also, happy birthday to MEEEE!**

** Yup, it was my birthday a few days ago! I am officially one year older than a year ago (cuz that totally makes sense, right?)!**

**So this chapter is dedicated to me! Yay!**

** Mucho ****Love-o,**

**Live :D**

**PS did anyone else notice that the last chapter's title sounded like the title of a Magic Tree House book? Anyone? I used to LOVE those books! Man, those were the days (yup, those days five or six years ago... the good ol' days.)**

* * *

><p>"Marie?" Mum's muffled voice calls from the other side of the bedroom door, "Supper's ready. Do you feel well enough to eat?"<p>

I lay with one arm cast across my eyes, victim to an awful, pounding headache. "Not really..."

I hear her loud sigh even through the door. I know what she's thinking: that I didn't eat last night, either, and had hardly any lunch. I feel bad for causing her to worry, but I just haven't the energy to eat. "I'll eat later, okay?"

"Alright. I wish the pharmacy was open on Sundays. We've already run out of pain killers. I'll leave you alone now." I hear her steps retreating down the stairs.

I must have drifted off, because when I open my eyes and take my arm off my face, my room is dark. I look at the alarm clock on my bedside table. It's quarter to nine, meaning I was asleep for three hours. The headache is almost gone, which is nice, but if this is anything like the last few times, it'll be back before dawn.

I swing my legs over the side of my bed and carefully stand. I'm not dizzy- a very good sign. I wonder momentarily what woke me, but the answer very quickly becomes obvious.

_Whoo. Whoooo, whooooo, who. Who-whoo. _

An owl, singing its lonesome song somewhere outside. I cross my room to the window and look out at the night, the moonlight gently touching everything with a soft glow. The sea, which I can glimpse through the trees, distantly shines, and shadows are laced through the strip of forest. It is a full moon, and everything is beautiful.

Outside, the owl suddenly stops calling, and I swear I can hear the faint rustle of feathers as it glides into the indigo and silver night.

I sigh as the pounding in my head begins again, and go back to bed.

* * *

><p><em>The Next Day<em>

The wind whips Sapphire's long, dark hair into her face as she climbs down to the cove. The day is overcast, but warm, the clouds a leftover from a late night rain shower that also left a dampness to everything.

_But things are always damp by the sea,_ Sapphire thinks, a little smile playing over her lips. _Always wet near Ingo._

"Hey, Saph!" A voice calls out from behind her. "Where are you off to?"

Sapphire, having arrived safely at the bottom of the cliff, turns and waves at her brother as he makes his way down the rocks to join her on the sand. "Where do you think?"

Conor's tan face breaks into a grin. "Come on, then!" With that, he takes off across the beach. Sapphire is about to follow when she is struck by a sudden wave of dizziness.

_Sapphire... little sister, you mustn't... stay away..._

She gasps, dropping to her knees. "F-Faro...?" Her heart starts pounding, black splotches dancing across her vision and light fluttering behind her eyes, flickering at the edges of her vision. Flash images play through her mind, but she can't make out what they are showing.

_Sapphire... Sapphire..._

"Sapphire! Sapphire!" Conor has come to kneel by her side. "Hang in there! I'll go get Mum, or Roger- or both, or- hey! Sapphy!"

Sapphire feels her body go limp, her cheek hitting the cool sand. Before she gives into the exhaustion that suddenly overwhelms her, she manages to whisper, _"Faro..."_

* * *

><p>Humming a song in some strange, musical language, Aislyn flips onto her back, allowing the soft current to carry her along. She stares up at the sky, looking like rippling blue-green glass, far above her. She is not really doing much of anything - just drifting, something she finds herself doing more and more lately. Especially since she started having those mysterious headaches...<p>

In the back of her mind, Aislyn wonders about her daughter. The last time she saw her, she was so tiny, such a fragile little creature. Everyone, even the healers, said that she could never survive. Aislyn can still see the child's enormous blue-grey eyes, looking up at her with such... _life. _That child, with those eyes - could she really be dead now? Even with her pale face, her sheer delicateness, Aislyn could not believe that she was not alive. Not when she felt her, felt her presence in the back of her mind, and heard her voice, like a violin, heard her distant laughter, saw her in her dreams.  
><em>No,<em> Aislyn thinks determindly, _she is not dead. Nerfani is alive somewhere. I can feel it._

* * *

><p><strong><em>Dun Dun DUN!<em>**

**_Dramatic Ending!_**

**Please R&R! It would be the bestest b-day present EVA! Actually, no... Legolas (You know, Lord of the Rings? Yep, cuz I'm just a nerd like that. He's such a beautiful, amazing, awesome, wonderful, etc. Elf. -Sigh-)**

**XXX**

**Mucho Love-o,**

**Live :D**


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